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HC-130J


JCC140965
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Last count USAF had 33 HC130N/P's 19 with Active Duty, 9 in ANG, 5 in AFRC.

They had 27 MC130P's, formerly HC's now upgraded to MC, 23 in Active Duty, 4 in ANG masquerading as HC's.

Are they replacing all of them? Are the new MC-J's/HC-J's going to have significant differences between them?

Thanks

Bob

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Public domain info from LM. Essentially a KC-130J with the additions listed in the news release.

(The first file is a printable version of the link in the first post by JCC140965 with an additional picture of the tow)

Edited by Chiefbert
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Yep, the outside is the old Sergent Fletcher pod, no beanie propeller like the FRL "electric" pod.

The lack of the large square scanner windows is a HUGE mistake.

Wonder why the hell they eliminated them, without them you take a very large ding in your ability to conduct rescue missions and an even larger ding in your survivability in hostile environments. Wonder what idiot said it was okay to delete them.

Dan

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"The lack of the large square scanner windows is a HUGE mistake."

They sure are handy. It started when the Weather guys got stuck with the "J." When the Coast Guard got their six "free" Js the same topic came up. The Weather folks cut some square holes in their side exit doors. As the story went, being a proprietary airframe Lockheed would have to do the engineering on it. The story also went "sorry, can't do, too big a hole already with the side exit doors." I haven't seen any of the newer hercs with the side exit doors and a scanner window so I guess it's not just a "J" problem.

A great place to scan the water or a bleeding engine!

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"The lack of the large square scanner windows is a HUGE mistake."

They sure are handy. It started when the Weather guys got stuck with the "J." When the Coast Guard got their six "free" Js the same topic came up. The Weather folks cut some square holes in their side exit doors. As the story went, being a proprietary airframe Lockheed would have to do the engineering on it. The story also went "sorry, can't do, too big a hole already with the side exit doors." I haven't seen any of the newer hercs with the side exit doors and a scanner window so I guess it's not just a "J" problem.

A great place to scan the water or a bleeding engine!

The weather birds incorporated the larger square window from the troop door into the side escape hatches. If you look at AC-130U gunships the escape hatch on the RH side was replaced with a full size window. Both of these could be options but I'm sure that if asked, the scanner window could be added to the side wall panels, the hatch should not be seen as a limiting factor but cost may be. The HC/MC ships are the same for now but they will split off and become their own versions with peculiars added or deleted by their respective customers. Nothing replaces a set of eyes looking outside but maybe a solution could show up in later HC only versions.

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Not sure I'd want to sit in the prop-arc of the six-bladed props for that long.

The large escape hatch is fwd of the prop arc, approx at the center window location of the 3 windows on the fwd sidewall panel. this is further aft than the scanner window location but out of the arc.

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Inflight Aerial Refuel System?

It has UARRSI and HARM in this version

Integrated Air Refuelling System - MC-130H and MC-130W. Each refuelling

station consists of an Integrate Air Refuelling System (IARS) refuelling pod, 26.5 m (87 ft)

of hose, a MA-4A reception coupling, and a variable drag drogue (VDD) with an inside

diameter of 0.68 m (24 inch).

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The large escape hatch is fwd of the prop arc, approx at the center window location of the 3 windows on the fwd sidewall panel. this is further aft than the scanner window location but out of the arc.

Right. And if you look at the proximity of that hatch vs. where the legacy scanner window is located, it's obvious why the installation of a scanner window became an issue. Not that it couldn't be done, but at what cost? Heck, the whole panel was once the location of a forward cargo door that was phased out decades ago.

There were informal local studies that brought the harmonics of the Dowty props under scrutiny. Even sitting forward of the arc, ala SAR pallet/scanner window, some crew reported feeling stronger effects than that same position in the HC-130H's, that may have been contibuted to by the prop vibe. Nothing was conclusive but ultimatley cost was the determining factor on the USCG HC-130J's. Cost and Deepwater's failure to identify key components to carry over from the missionized H models.

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And if you look at the proximity of that hatch vs. where the legacy scanner window is located, it's obvious why the installation of a scanner window became an issue. Not that it couldn't be done, but at what cost? Heck, the whole panel was once the location of a forward cargo door that was phased out decades ago.

HUH, where did you come up with that one?

All HC-130's (P's and N's) were Manufactured with the scanners windows right from lockheed, in the designs and everything!

There was NEVER a forward cargo door on ANY HC-130's nor was there any provisions for one, those things went the way of the dinosaur in 1961, about three or four years before the HC ever came off the production line.

Dan

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When the USCG got their "new" H models back in the early Eighties, the first batch were AF Slicks. The CG did the mods for CG mission equipment. One mod was adding scanner windows to CG 1700-1704 and 1790 tails. The engineering was done in-house for one very large patch. The attached photo is the best I can come up with, ignore the NOAA (?) air sampling experiment out of a side window. If the resolution remains, you can see the outline of the patch.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tailnumber looks like 0108?

picture at:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/aeronautics/press_photos/2010/HC-130JRollOut.jpg

text at:

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2010/100419ae_hc130-rollout.html

First Lockheed Martin/USAF HC-130J Combat Rescue Tanker Rolls Out

MARIETTA, Ga., April 19th, 2010 -- Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] rolled out the first of a new fleet of HC-130J combat rescue tankers for the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command (ACC) during a ceremony here today. Maj. Gen. Thomas K. Andersen, director of requirements, Headquarters ACC, spoke at the ceremony.

“Personnel recovery is one of the Air Force’s core missions and vital to what we do in defense of America. The mission is demanding and we are grateful to those [employees] of Lockheed Martin assembled here that have given us a world-class aircraft ready for the demands of the mission,†Andersen said. “The HC-130J will enable us to meet the expanding operational tasks that we face today — wartime operations in Operation Enduring Freedom and the Horn of Africa, and relief operations in the continental United States as well as in areas like Haiti and Chile. For that, ACC, the Air Force and the nation thank you.â€

Lockheed Martin is contracted with the U.S. Air Force to build 21 C 130J Super Hercules to replace aging fleets of combat search and rescue HC-130s and special operations MC 130s. The U.S. Air Force is authorized to acquire up to 31 HC/MC 130Js (11 HCs and 20 MCs).

“Yet again, we see the C-130 setting new standards for mission flexibility,†said Ross Reynolds, Lockheed Martin vice president for C-130 programs. “This new configuration of the proven C-130J will give ACC unparalleled capability for combat search and rescue. As demand for the C-130J continues to grow around the world, we will see more ways this aircraft can meet the demands of any operator and mission.â€

The new aircraft, which is based on a KC-130J tanker baseline, will have the Enhanced Service Life Wing, Enhanced Cargo Handling System, a Universal Aerial Refueling Receptacle Slipway Installation (boom refueling receptacle), an electro-optical/infrared sensor, a combat systems operator station on the flight deck, and provisions for the large aircraft infrared countermeasures system. In-line production of this configuration reduces cost and risk, and meets the required 2012 initial operational capability.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion

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I like that one, but what new flexibility are they talking about? Just which mission is the J doing that the non-J airframes haven't done already?

Dan

Maybe he means that the pilots are going to have to be more flexiable to make up for not having an engineer or nav....

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